UFC 224: Nunes vs. Pennington fight card and TV schedule

Bengaluru, May 11: After a long break, the Ultimate Fighting Championship return this weekend with UFC 224: Nunes vs. Pennington, which comes to us from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Saturday (May 12) hosted at the Jeunesse Arena.

The women's bantamweight championship headlines the event where Amanda Nunes puts her belt on the line against Raquel Pennington, while Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza vs. Kelvin Gastelum in a middleweight bout serves as the co-headliner.

In the main event, Nunes looks to make it seven wins in a row since her last defeat, way back in September 2017. The Brazilian starts the favourite to retain her belt against Pennington, who is on a four-fight winning streak, but has not been in the octagon since November 2016.

As for the co-main event, Jacare is fresh from a TKO win over Derek Brunson earlier this year in UFC on Fox 27. Gastelum, meanwhile, is on the back of a first-round knockout of Michael Bipsing at Fight Night last November.

There are a couple of other very intriguing contests on the main card including a women's strawweight bout between Mackenzie Dern and Amanda Cooper, plus Vitor Belfort's retirement fight against friend and compatriot Lyoto Machida. There is also a bantamweight scrap between John Lineker and Brian Kelleher.

On the prelims, we have many fighters from Brazil in action including the likes of Junior Albini, Cezar Ferreira, Davi Ramos and Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos. While the two to look out for on the card are Ramazan Emeev and Sean Strickland.

When and where is UFC 224?

The event is on Saturday (May 12) which will take place at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro and due to the time difference it will be shown on Sunday (May 13) in India.

Which channel is showing UFC 224 in India?

Sony ESPN will show the main card live on Sunday (May 13) from 7.30 AM IST, while the preliminary card can be streamed using Fight Pass from 3.45 AM IST.

Check out the scheduled fight card for UFC 224:

Main Card (Sony ESPN)

1. Women's bantamweight title bout: Amanda Nunes (c) vs Raquel Pennington

2. Middleweight bout: Ronaldo Souza vs Kelvin Gastelum

3. Women's Strawweight bout: Mackenzie Dern vs Amanda Cooper

4. Bantamweight bout: John Lineker vs Brian Kelleher

5. Middleweight bout: Vitor Belfort vs Lyoto Machida

Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)

1. Middleweight bout: Cezar Ferreira vs Karl Roberson

2. Heavyweight bout: Oleksiy Oliynyk vs Junior Albini

3. Lightweight bout: Davi Ramos vs Nick Hein

4. Welterweight bout: Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs Sean Strickland

5. Welterweight bout: Warlley Alves vs Sultan Aliev

6. Middleweight bout: Thales Leites vs Jack Hermansson

7. Welterweight bout: Alberto Mina vs Ramazan Emeev

8. Middleweight bout: Markus Perez vs James Bochnovic